According to a security official, speaking to the news agency, the violence follows a decision from the interior ministry to move 39 prisoners awaiting a verdict over their alleged involvement in a deadly football riot in February 2012.

The interior ministry decided to move the prisoners to avoid unrest in the city. However, the decision has so far backfired.

Elsewhere in Egypt, violence erupted in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura on Saturday, after around 400 protestors gathered outside the local council office.

According to the Interior Ministry, which oversees the country's police force, demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans before they threw firebombs at the building.

One protestor died and dozens were wounded, after police hit back at the demonstrators. According to activists, speaking to AP, one protestor - Hossam Eldin Abdullah Abdelazim - was killed when an armored police vehicle crushed him to death.

Police were accused of using excessive force in both Mansoura and Port Said.